I don’t like to edit photos.
I’m kind of bad at it, probably because I don’t like to do it, and have avoided developing the skill. One of the things I like about film photography is I don’t have to—the basic corrections done by the lab during the scanning process are all I need, and it’s rare for me to make any addition adjustments.
But I do like a specialty film, stocks that are pre-exposed or otherwise tweaked prior to shooting them for the purpose of achieving some sort of color-shift or effect in the photos. I recently bought a roll of Amber D400, a color negative stock reformatted from movie film to be used in still cameras. The antihalation layer is removed from the original movie format, allowing the film to be developed in traditional C-41 chemicals (what is used to develop most color negative film stocks for still cameras), and from what I can tell from a couple Google searches, has something to do with the amber hue found in the processed images.
The result feels like a lower contrast version of Dubblefilm’s Pacific, which casts a similar (but maybe more saturated) hue. Both stocks give me 1970s Cali vibes, perfect for shooting skate or surf.
I love catching skaters flying through in close focus, sometimes capturing only their dangling feet and board in frame. I shot this roll on a late afternoon at Texas Beach skate park, shortly before rain clouds rolled through. The amber hue of the film stock seems (so far) to give a favorable effect in both sunny and overcast conditions, but I’ll definitely be shooting more to further test it out.
Image of Amber D400 film found via Google
The best price I’ve found for Amber D400 is at B&H, $15.99 for 27 exposures at time of this posting.
I normally post collections of work primarily here with one or two images on Instagram as a teaser, but typically do share all skate photography on IG as well so the homies can tag themselves. So if you landed here via Google, check out my profile here for more!
Thanks for reading, you’re beautiful.